WEEK 1

Gross Domestic Product: The gross domestic product (GDP) is a basic measure of a country's overall economic
performance. It is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year. It is
often positively correlated with the standard of living, though its use as a stand-in for measuring the standard of
living has come under increasing criticism and many countries are actively exploring alternative measures to GDP for
that purpose.

Methodological Problems with GDP:

Resource depletion can be counted as economically beneficial.

Natural disasters can be counted as economically beneficial.
Environmental destruction can be counted as economically beneficial.
The Paradox of Modernity on GDP:
Increase of Inflation, CPI etc. also accompany.
The tragedy is that many contemporary activities are geared toward undermining rather than upholding the
objective of sustaining life.

Sustainability
At the very heart of sustainable growth lies the demand for both intra and intergenerational equity. It seeks
stability, development, and social justice in the present generation, but the main focus is on future generations.
Three components of Sustainability:
Environment: Efficient use of energy material in the production of goods and services
Society: Community development, education, career training, human rights, fair wages, worker rights,
employment security.
Economy: Longterm profitability, competitive advantages, efficient processes, creativity and innovations.

Corporate triple bottom line policy: The notion that business should be accountable to the environment and society
in which it operates has now been accepted by many large enterprises. This is reflected in the triple bottom line
approach (abbreviated as TBL or 3BL) of corporate strategic planning, which is made up of "social, economic and
environmental", or people, planet and profit.
Ecological Foot print: The area of land and water needed to sustain a person or population (including home, places
of work and play, materials needed to build and maintain these places, vehicles and transportation systems, food,
and waste treatment, etc.).

LCA: Life Cycle Assessment: Compilation and evaluation of the inputs and out puts and the potential environmental
impacts of a product system throughout its lifecycle.

Cradle-to-cradle: End of life cycle is taken as the end of the recovery process
Cradle-to-grave: End of lifecycle is disposal of post-consumer plastic waste.
Cradle-to-grate: End of lifecycle is taken to be delivery of product at factory gate

Some criticisms of LCA:

It has a narrower focus (on a product, plant, or service, instead of being a generic metric)
LCA is always a complex (and somewhat subjective) exercise, often with large error and missing (or dated)
data being used.
Week 2
Environmental Impact Statement: The term environmental assessment describes a technique and a process by
which information about the environmental effects of a project are collected, both by the developer and from other
sources, and taken into account by the planning authority in forming their judgements on whether the development
should go ahead. UK Department of Environment operational definition (1989)

An assessment of the impact of a planned activity on the environment. UNECE (1991)

Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) (WA):

Assessment on Proponent Information (API) level with no public review,
and Public Environmental Review (PER) with a public review period of generally 4-12 weeks.
Assessment on Proponent Information (API) with no public review

Environment minister: Ultimate decision-maker on whether a project can proceed

Benefits of EIS
Aid to decision making
Inform a local authority of project impacts
Inform a developer of issues or modifications that may be required at an early stage
Basis for negotiation
between the developer, public interest groups, the planning regulator
Balanced outcome between development and the environment
Basis for improving Community Relations
between the developer, public interest groups, regulators, communities
Smoother development and operations if everyone is informed and onside.
Positive for developer to be seen as environmentally friendly.
Help inform and involve stakeholders of proposed development
An instrument of sustainable development!
The best environmental policy consists in preventing the creation of pollution or nuisances at the source, rather than
subsequently trying to counteract their effects' CEC 1985 (preamble to the 1985 EC EIA Directive)
When do we need an EIS?
Major project
Project screening
Initial outline study
Measurement of environmental impact

Environmental impacts:
Effects on human beings, buildings and man-made features
Effects on flora, fauna and geology
Effects on land
Effects on water
Effects on air and climate
Prediction of environmental impacts:
Magnitude
Significance
Objective
Subjective
Mathematical models
Physical models
Expert judgement
Mitigation of environmental impacts:
Measures to avoid, reduce and/or remedy significant environmental impacts
Example measures
Example measures

EIA Process

Week 3
EIA Environmental Impact Assessment: EIA is the science of assessing the impact that an event, or a project, may
have on the environment, society and economy.

An environmental risk is the likelihood of an undesirable event.

Environmental values: They describe what we want and need to protect, and outline values and uses of the
environment that are important for healthy ecosystems, public benefit, industry and health that require protection
from the effects of pollution and waste discharges.

What is a stressor to these environmental values: A stressor is any physical, chemical, or biological entity that can
induce an adverse response.

Assessor: Agency/person who carries out the assessment.

Stakeholder: An agency/organization/person who has direct interest in the matter.

Stressor: Any physical, chemical or biological entity that can induce a harmful response in a value.

Check lists are potential lists of environmental impact (such as contamination), both primary and secondary.

Interactive matrix method: Is a Two-dimensional listing of how the proposed action may affect the environment.
The matrix: Physical location vs. activity. Scale of 1-5 for magnitude (placed above) and importance (below)
Environmental quality index method:
Example: lowering DO from 9mg/L to 3mg/L would yield EQI = 0.33.
PIU: Parameter Importance Units
EIU: Environmental Impact Unit
Three Types of Risk Assessment:
1. Qualitativesubjective assessments
2. Quantitativerelies heavily on mathematical models
3. Semi-Quantitativethree outcomes: likelihood, severity, environmental risk matrix.
Risk Assessment for Protecting Public Health:
1. Hazard identification
2. Dose response assessment
3. Exposure assessment
4. Risk characterization

An Example of Dose-Response Assessment: Cancerogen

Definition:
Lifetime risk = probability of cancer occurring in ones lifetime due to his/her exposure to a specific substance

Where: CDI = chronic daily intake of a substance over 70-year lifetime, mg/kgd
Q potency factor, (mg/kgd)-1

Decision Making and Risk Management:

1. This final process of risk assessment is often the responsibility of the senior management team;
2. It typically produces an environment improvement plan (EIP) with details of monitoring, responses,
continual improvement, etc.
3. Must show DUE DILIGENCE!

Limitation of EIA:
Always yes: Over 99% of all developments referred to the federal Environment Minister have been approved
or deemed not to be federal matters.
Significant impacts ignored
The law of small pieces: EIA often occurs in an environmental vacuum, ignoring wider and cumulative
consequences of actions.
Science for sale: Industrial funded research.
General structure of EIA:
Proposed development
Existing Environment
EIA
Management and monitoring
Week 4
Hazard -IChemE Definition: A situation or characteristic of an activity or material with the potential for harm to
people, property or the environment.

Risk-IChemE Definition: The chance or likelihood of a specific level of harm occurring within a specific period, or in
specified circumstances.

What is a Safety or Loss prevention? The prevention of accidents through the use of appropriate technologies to
identify the hazards of a process plant and eliminate them before an accident occurs.

Hazard -Contributing Factors:

Material factors
Toxicity
flammability (Flash point, Auto-ignition)
explosion (deflagration, detonation)
Operational factors
process deviation
time
sequence
human factors
Environmental factors
ignition density
weather/meteorology
Some Common Abbreviations:
HAZOP Hazard and operability study
HAZAN Hazard analysis
PSM Process Safety Management
MSDS Material Safety Data Sheet Internationally also known as Safety Data Sheet (SDS)
PPE Personal Protection Equipment
ADG Australian Dangerous Goods
ALARP As low as reasonably practicable

MSDS Material Safety Data Sheet. It includes:

Physical and chemical properties
Normal appearance (colour, state), density, viscosity, boiling point etc.
Chemical properties (molecular formula, etc.)
Dangers it poses to human and the environment
Treatment methods if injury occurs

A supplier of a chemical product has the obligation to provide MSDS Data.

Dangerous Goods Classification:

1. Explosives
2. Gases
3. Flammable liquids
4. Other flammable substances
5. Oxidizing agents
6. Toxic and infectious substances
7. Radioactives
8. Corrosives
9. Miscellaneous

The Purpose of Work Permit System:

Primarily to protect the safety of people and plant;
Provide a pre-work checklist, to identify potential hazards and risks during the work process;
Pre-planning for emergency response;
To provide appropriate training to employee;
To ensure that a job is being carried out only by appropriate (competent) people;
Facilitate record keeping.

Incident Report
It is commonly required after a major accident or near miss;
It is a thorough investigation and analysis of incidents (both actual events and near misses);
It provides one of the most effective means of improving the safety and reliability of process facilities.
Process Hazards Checklists: A process hazards checklist is simply a list of possible problems and areas to be checked.
The list reminds the reviewer or operator of the potential problem areas. A checklist can be used during the design
of a process to identify design hazards, or it can be used before process operation.
Checklists should be applied only during the preliminary stages of hazard identification and should not be used as a
replacement for a more complete hazard identification procedure. Checklists are most effective in identifying
hazards arising from process design, plant layout, storage of chemicals, electrical systems, and so forth.

Week 5
HAZOP (Hazard and operability study): Is used to systematically review a process or operation to determine whether
process deviations can lead to undesirable consequences.

The Outcome of HAZOP

Identification of hazards and potential operating problems;
Recommendation of changes (usually minor) in design, operating procedure, etc;
Recommendation of further studies on areas where no conclusion has been made due to a lack of
information.

Limitations of HAZOP:
Full Hazop is done after full P&IDs are developed-late and costly to change design. Quasi-Hazop (coarse) at
initial design stage;
Hazop is not a substitute for good design;
Hazop is not an alternative to effective operation and maintenance procedures;
Only single failures are considered;
Only identifies the existence of hazards no quantitative estimation on how often the hazards can cause
accident or what magnitude of consequences- scope for Hazan

Safety Reviews:
Informal safety review: small bench scale or laboratory process or small changes for existing process.
Formal safety review: new process, substantial changes in process and processes that need an updated review

FMEA-Failure Mode and Effect Analysis

Like HAZOP, a FMEA study should be carried out by a team.
Target individual mechanical parts of a plant.
Procedure that is similar to HAZOP is carried out, except that FMEA is focused on mechanical devices.
End result is a FMEA report.
FMEAisastructuredandreliablemethodforevaluatinghardwareandsystems.
Easy to learn and apply, and it makes evaluating even complex systems easy to do.
It can be very time-consuming (and expensive) and does not readily identify areas of multiple fault that could
occur.
It may not identify areas of human error in the process
Week 6
HAZOP: Essential Qualitative
HAZAN: Selective Quantitative (often suits administrative purpose)
All hazard assessment measures are in accurate, but some are useful.

Equipment failures or faults in a process occur as a result of a complex interaction of the individual components.

The probability that the component will not fail during the time interval (0, t) is given by a Poisson distribution,
where R is reliability, it assumes a constant failure rate . As t , the reliability goes to 0
Redundancy
Systems are designed to function normally even when a single instrument or control function fails. This is achieved
with redundant controls, including two or more measurements, processing paths, and actuators that ensure that the
system operates safely and reliably.

Common Mode Failure

Occasionally an incident occurs that results in a common mode failure. This is a single event that affects a number of
pieces of hardware simultaneously. For example, consider several flow control loops. A common mode failure is the
loss of electrical power or a loss of instrument air. A utility failure of this type can cause all the control loops to fail at
the same time. The utility is connected to these systems via OR gates. This increases the failure rate substantially.
When working with control systems, one needs to deliberately design the systems to minimize common cause
failures.

Week 7
Fault Tree
Combines events and logical relations between events (gates);
Addresses a nominated top event (vessel over pressure, fire, etc.);
Develops the tree to basic events;
 Provides visualization of fault logic structures;
Incorporates both system failures and human failures
Allows qualitative analysis;
Allows quantitative analysis;
Provides the basis for system redesign;
Can incorporate uncertainty into the analysis.

Sources of common cause failures

Aging
components with same materials
System Environment
same power supply
flood, fire, earthquake,
dirt, dust, temperature,
System Design, Maintenance
Fabrication error, damage in transit
Commissioning faults
Personnel
poor training
faulty test procedures
same crew or contract
Determining the Minimum Cut
Once the fault tree has been fully drawn, a number of computations can be performed. The first computation
determines the minimal cut sets (or min cut sets). The minimal cut sets are the various sets of events that could lead
to the top event. In general, the top event could occur through a variety of different combinations of events. The
different unique sets of events leading to the top event are the minimal cut sets.
The minimal cut sets are useful for determining the various ways in which a top event could occur.
Some of the minimum cut sets have a higher probability than others. For instance, a set involving just two events is
more likely than a set involving three. Similarly, a set involving human interaction is more likely to fail than one
involving hardware alone. Based on these simple rules, the minimal cut sets are ordered with respect to failure
probability. The higher probability sets are examined are fully to determine whether additional safety systems are
required.
Disadvantage & Advantage
The main disadvantage of using fault trees is that for any reasonably complicated process the fault tree will
be enormous.
Fault trees involving thousands of gates and intermediate events are not unusual.
Fault trees of this size require a considerable amount of time, measured in years, to complete.
What Can Go Wrong in HAZAN?
Inadequate definition of system boundary;
Failure to include all significant failure modes(such as human error);
Lack of statistically significant data, or none at all;
Data old, or inappropriate (e.g. generic vs. specific);
Inconsistent units used;
Inappropriate consideration of common mode failures;
Wrong logic of fault tree.
Week 8
TLVs- Threshold Limit Values
Factors for dispersion
Wind speed
Atmospheric stability
Ground conditions (buildings, etc.)
Height of release
Momentum and buoyance of material
ERPGs: Emergency response planning guidelines for air contaminants issued by the American Industrial Hygiene
Association (AIHA)
IDLH levels established by NIOSH
EEGLs (Emergency exposure guidance levels) and short-term public emergency guidance levels (SPEGLs) issued by
the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council
TLVs established by the ACGIH, including short-term exposure limits (TLV-STELs) and ceiling concentrations (TLV-Cs)
PELs promulgated by OSHA
Toxic end points promulgated by the EPA as part of the RMP

Fire: A chemical reaction in which a substance combines with an oxidant and releases energy. Part of the energy
released is used to sustain the reaction.
Explosion: A rapid expansion of gases resulting in a rapidly moving pressure or shockwave. The expansion can be
mechanical (by means of a sudden rupture of a pressurized vessel), or it can be the result of a rapid chemical
reaction. Explosion damage is caused by the pressure or shockwave
Week 9

Miscellaneous Concepts for Preventing Fires and Explosions

Relief: Avoid rupture accident

First line: inherent safety
Second line: better process control
Third line: install relief systems

Definitions
Maximum allowable working pressure (MAWP): The maximum gauge pressure permissible at the top of a
vessel for a designated temperature, or called design pressure
Back pressure: The pressure at the outlet of the relief device during the relief process resulting from
pressure in the discharge system
Blow down: The pressure difference between the relief set pressure and the relief reseating pressure. It is
expressed as a percentage of the set pressure: vapor or gas discharged.
Over pressure: The pressure increase in the vessel over the set pressure during the relieving process
Week 10

PSM is the application of Management Systems to the identification, understanding, and control of process hazards
to prevent process-related injuries and incidents.

PSM principles:
Process hazards: Concerns such as fires, explosions, toxic gases, and unintended releases, and how they
affect the workers in their use, storage, and disposal.
Safety: Concerns how the company uses or implements safety regulations and any program to reduce
incidents and injuries in the production process.
Management: Concerns all people who have some measure of control over the process, such as employee
participation, operating procedure, and management of change.

PSM increased public concern over safety in industrial plants and led to the creation of the COMAH (Control of Major
Accident Hazards) regulations, the development of Process Safety Management programs, and Process Hazard
Analysis and Emergency Management.

PSM Benefits

Introducing a bold and complete new approach for managing the health and safety of workers.
Reducing the capital losses associated with catastrophic failures and disasters in the workplace.

Standard definition: According to ISO ( International Standard Organization), a standard is defined as a

documented agreement containing technical specifications or other precise criteria to be used consistently as rules,
guidelines, or definitions of characteristics to ensure that materials, products, processes and services are fit for their
purpose.
 OSHAs Hazard Communication Standard in1983 gave the workers the right to know about workplace
hazards.
Globally Harmonized System (GHS) gives workers the right to understand, completely implemented in 2016
(Physical, Health and Environmental hazards).

The implications for employers:

Become informed about the standards and their updates
Ensure employees are also informed and follow expected procedures
Know the hazard classifications
Know classification of mixtures
Ensure that chemicals are properly labeled
Use the safety data sheets
Ensure that the workers are trained

Incident Investigations
The objective of the incident investigation is to provide learning and prevention opportunitiessuch that
similar incidents will not be repeated.
Persistent investigation of all serious and near-miss incidents is essential for continuous improvements in the
health and safety, and safety performance for the organization.
Findings must be shared in an organized manner to promote learning and to identify and exploit gap closure
opportunities where similar weaknesses in the SMS may exist across the organization.
Incident investigation must be timely. A multidisciplinary team must be assembled with subject matter
expertise comprised of relevant site personnel and non-site personnel, including contractors if involved.

Pre-Startup Safety Review (PSSR)

Compliance Audit
The objective of the auditing element of PSM is to evaluate the effectiveness of PSM by identifying
deficiencies, risks, and hazards exposures of the organization and recommending corrective action.
 The audit also identifies pockets of excellence that can be leveraged across the entire organization.
Audits provide a measurement of compliance with the established PSM standard for each element.
Audits of each element of PSM should not exceed a finite period between audits. Typically, this maybe 24 to
36 months.

Process Safety Information (PSI)

Process flow diagrams (PFDs) and piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs)
Policies, codes of practices (COPs), standard operating procedures (SOPs), critical practices, and industry
practices.
Materials safety data sheets (MSDS).
Technical information on equipment, machinery, and interconnecting piping and devices.

Process Hazards Analysis (PHA)

Mechanical Integrity (MI) of Equipment

SOPs are developed to ensure all non-routine operating and maintenance work is conducted safely.

Case histories are written descriptions of accidents, including the causes, consequences, and methods required to
prevent similar events. They are descriptions written by plant managers and operating personnel. These are the
people with the hands-on experience, the ones who know and appreciate the accident and accident prevention
methods.
Accordingtoopenliteraturereports, 5 categories are reported most:
Static electricity
Chemical reactivity
System design
Procedures
Training

Week 11
Flashpoint: lowest temp to form ignitable mixture

Within the oil and gas industry there are inherent risks of accidents occurring at any stage of the process, from
exploration through to the extraction, refining and final delivery of the product. These risks include fire, explosion,
environmental contamination and injury to personnel.

Risks analysis and decide on precautions

Setting control: As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP), the Hierarchy of Control should be used

A Hazard Identification Study (HAZID)

A Hazard Identification Study (HAZOP)
Inherent safe design
Minimizing the amount of hazardous material present at any one time
Replacing hazardous materials with less hazardous materials
Moderating the effect a material or process might have (reduce temperature or pressure)
Simplifying the design by designing out problems rather than adding features to deal with problems
Allowing for human error by designing in failsafe features such as valves which fail to a SHUT position

Critical information
Workpermitsthestatusofexistingpermitsandthestatusofworkinprogress
The updating of work permits
Preparations for upcoming maintenance
New personnel to the shift
Any plant overridesexisting and planned
Information about any abnormal events
Any existing or planned shutdowns
Inhibits to the Fire and Gas (F & G) and Emergency Shutdown (ESD) systems
Any completed work and equipment which has returned to service
Medical Emergency:
Triage: the assignment of degrees of urgency to wounds or illnesses to decide the order of treatment of a
large number of patients or casualties
On-shore emergency response
Off-shore emergency response

Week 12
Strategies for reducing risk
Inherent: Eliminating the hazard by using materials and process conditions that are more benign.
Passive: Minimizing the hazard through process and equipment design features that reduce either the
frequency or consequence of the hazard WITHOUT the active functioning of an device.
Active: Using controls, alarms, safety instrumented systems, and mitigation systems to detect and respond
to process deviations from normal operation. These systems are commonly referred to as engineering
controls, although human intervention is also an active layer.
Procedural: Using policies, operating procedures, training, administrative checks, emergency response, and
other management approaches to prevent incidents or to minimize the effects of an incident. These
approaches are commonly referred to as administrative controls.
Inherently Safer Technology (IST), also known as Inherently Safer Design (ISD), permanently eliminates or reduces
hazards to avoid or reduce the consequences of incidents.
IST is a philosophy, applied to the design and operation lifecycle, including manufacture, transport, storage,
use, and disposal
IST is an iterative process that considers such options, including eliminating a hazard, reducing a hazard,
substituting a less hazardous material, using less hazardous process conditions, and designing a process to
reduce the potential for, or consequences of, human error, equipment failure, or intentional harm.
Note: Overall safe design and operation options cover a spectrum from inherent through passive, active, and
procedural risk management strategies. There is no clear boundary between IST and other strategies.

Green chemistry refers to the adoption of chemicals in commercial processes that reduce concern with respect to
the safety and environment.